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Nigeria Boko Haram: Some missing girls 'rescued' after school attack | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Some of the schoolgirls missing after a militant attack on a boarding school in northern Nigeria have been rescued by the military, officials say. | |
About 100 children were believed to be missing after pupils and teachers fled into bush outside the town of Dapchi during the attack. | |
Parents told the BBC they had seen girls being taken away in trucks. | |
The attack comes four years after Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in the town of Chibok. | The attack comes four years after Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in the town of Chibok. |
In a statement, the Yobe state government said an unspecified number of girls had been rescued from the "terrorists who abducted them" and were now with the army. | |
Reuters news agency quoted parents and a government official as saying that 76 girls had been rescued and at least 13 were still missing | |
Two girls had been found dead, Reuters said, without specifying how they had died. | |
Yobe state officials had previously said there was no information to suggest any of the girls had been kidnapped. | |
Dapchi is about 275km (170 miles) north-west of Chibok. | |
The jihadists entered the town firing guns and letting off explosives, causing students and teachers to flee into the surrounding bush. | |
Residents say that Nigeria's security forces - backed by military jets - later repelled the attack. | Residents say that Nigeria's security forces - backed by military jets - later repelled the attack. |
Locals living near the school told the BBC that many of the girls who had fled had been found after hiding in surrounding villages - some up to 30km away. | |
Yobe's police minister said that 815 of the school's 926 students had later returned to the school. | |
The minister was speaking before news that more girls had been rescued by the military. | |
What has happened to the Chibok girls? | What has happened to the Chibok girls? |
Last September, a group of more than 100 of the Chibok girls were reunited with their families at a party in Abuja. | Last September, a group of more than 100 of the Chibok girls were reunited with their families at a party in Abuja. |
Most of the group were released in May as part of a controversial prisoner swap deal with the Nigerian government that saw five Boko Haram commanders released. | Most of the group were released in May as part of a controversial prisoner swap deal with the Nigerian government that saw five Boko Haram commanders released. |
But more than 100 schoolgirls are still being held by Boko Haram, and their whereabouts are unknown. | But more than 100 schoolgirls are still being held by Boko Haram, and their whereabouts are unknown. |
Boko Haram militants have been fighting a long insurgency in their quest for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The conflict is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people. | Boko Haram militants have been fighting a long insurgency in their quest for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. The conflict is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people. |
The Chibok girls represent a fraction of the women captured by the militant group, which has kidnapped thousands during its eight-year insurgency in northern Nigeria. | The Chibok girls represent a fraction of the women captured by the militant group, which has kidnapped thousands during its eight-year insurgency in northern Nigeria. |